hey guys on my 2003 hummer h2, I successfully changed the ball joint and upper control arm. firstly I knew my Lower ball joint was shot when I was told so by an alignment shop, and so I decided to also replace both inner and outer tie rods. went with the Moog problem solver for the lower ball joints and the tie rods, took everything apart, and noticed my upper ball joint was also shot on both sides. so I went out and bought a upper Moog control arm with ball joint. I heard not to change the ball joints on the upper control arm with some research as people said the metal is thin, which it looks like and the ball joint will never be as firm and seated as the original oem. replacing the upper control arm and ball joint is also a lot smarter and cost effective as the Moog one was only like $80 with ball joint while just the ball joint was $40. I would have replaced lower control arm but the lca is much more costly, around $200 cad so I decided just to do ball joints.
tips: for the lower ball joint, I rented a press and even used a torch but it wouldn't move and found the best method to get it out was to put a socket on top and hit it with a hammer and it will come out after like 10 hard swings. however when you put the new one in, it is best to use a press as I don't think you should be hammering in a ball joint.
everything else was pretty simple.
it was hard to find torque specs and I looked everywhere but from the ones I remember from researching off the top of my head was
140 ft lbs for the upper control arm to frame
upper ball joint 51 ish foot lbs
lower ball joint 65 ish foot lbs
tie rod to relay was 73 foot lbs but I just did it to tight because I couldn't get it to hook up to torque wrench
outer tie rod was 44 foot lbs
axle nut was 173 foot lbs
wheel lug nuts was 140 foot lbs but I hit it with impact and it was already a bit past that when I checked the torque specs
wheel hub (I think its called, has 4 long bolts) coming which the head is facing the engine area) I couldn't find any info online so just got it good and tight with impact
took off the brake line so had to bleed the brakes so I torqued that to 30 foot lbs where the brake line connects to the caliber
couldn't find caliber info so I just did it tight to what felt right
hopefully these torque values are correct and hoping someone can confirm so I can fix it before something falls apart ahah
thanks ! and let me know if anyone has questions
tips: for the lower ball joint, I rented a press and even used a torch but it wouldn't move and found the best method to get it out was to put a socket on top and hit it with a hammer and it will come out after like 10 hard swings. however when you put the new one in, it is best to use a press as I don't think you should be hammering in a ball joint.
everything else was pretty simple.
it was hard to find torque specs and I looked everywhere but from the ones I remember from researching off the top of my head was
140 ft lbs for the upper control arm to frame
upper ball joint 51 ish foot lbs
lower ball joint 65 ish foot lbs
tie rod to relay was 73 foot lbs but I just did it to tight because I couldn't get it to hook up to torque wrench
outer tie rod was 44 foot lbs
axle nut was 173 foot lbs
wheel lug nuts was 140 foot lbs but I hit it with impact and it was already a bit past that when I checked the torque specs
wheel hub (I think its called, has 4 long bolts) coming which the head is facing the engine area) I couldn't find any info online so just got it good and tight with impact
took off the brake line so had to bleed the brakes so I torqued that to 30 foot lbs where the brake line connects to the caliber
couldn't find caliber info so I just did it tight to what felt right
hopefully these torque values are correct and hoping someone can confirm so I can fix it before something falls apart ahah
thanks ! and let me know if anyone has questions
